The Australian duo is currently on tour in America in support of their latest album Ice On The Dune, which Cristina thinks is too pop and did not like it. .…

Sydney's Empire of the Sun is currently on tour in America in support of their second album, Ice on the Dune. The band stopped in at the State Theatre in Minneapolis last night, September 16th, bringing in some of the most wonderful themed stage, dancing girls, visuals, and amazing songs.

ALPINE

Opening up the show was Alpine, a band from Melbourne, Australia. I actually really enjoyed their performance, which were centered mostly between dueling vocals of Phoebe Baker and Lou James. When the two women are not busy harmonizing sweet vocals, they would try and incite the audience to stand up and dance for them. It's a shame that people were still shuffling in when Alpine started their set (on time), because I felt they missed a really fun performance.

Song from their brief set list was basically all the songs from their debut album A Is For Alpine, including (and in this order): "Lovers", " The Vigour", "Too Safe", "Seeing Red", "Icy Poles", "Hands", "Gasoline", and the finale "Villages".

If you missed Alpine this time around, the seven piece band will be back in Minneapolis at the Nether Bar (Mill City Nights) on October 19th.

Empire of the Sun started shortly after 8pm with a drummer and keyboard/bassist and two dancers, warming up to "Lux". Then, like a Christ-figure, Luke Steele is slowly risen via a platform with his helmet and costume, as two additional dancers are revealed. What an entrance!

There were a few technical difficulties plaguing the show, including Luke Steele's guitar not working out and microphone mix issues, but overall, the synchronized dancing, light show, smoke, and overall theatrics made up for any issues.

The thing I noticed and mentioned in the audio recording, is that each song and set piece were all planned and designed for, indicating to me that Luke Steele (or whoever is the creative force behind it) has this amazing vision for this band. You can tell they worked really hard on the setlist, the dance routine and especially the costumes. It wasn't just the band on stage, the audience was also part of the event, with a few fans dressing up for the occasion (the face makeup, the funky headbands, etc).

Obviously fans loved and responded well to Empire of the Sun's singles, like "We Are the People" and "Walking on a Dream", and the encore song, "Alive". As for the visual part, I thought the biggest (perhaps strangest) surprise was when a giant puppet with a skull for a head came on behind the set.

At the end of the show, Luke Steele smashed his guitar to bits. Perhaps it was out of frustration because his guitar wasn't working out earlier in the set, but I felt this was all part of the show (considering how fast the cleanup crew came on stage with a brush immediately after Steele left the stage). I haven't seen guitar smashing in a long time, so that was really fun to witness live.

Empire of the Sun is currently on tour for Ice on the Dune. If you're still debating on spending that $40 or $50 to see Empire of the Sun, I'm here to tell you that it's totally worth the price of admission. It's a show, show, and it's something you probably won't experience in a typical rock n roll concert.

PS, Just randomly, but it's worth noting that the other half of Empire of the Sun, Nick Littlemore, was not present on this tour.

Monday, 26 August 2013

The legendary Ryan is back on W♥M Radio! We recorded a special "tech-talk" section, but I will have to save it for a future non-music podcast. .…

Cristina makes her annual W♥M Radio appearance!

Empire of the Sun
The Australian duo is currently on tour in America in support of their latest album Ice On The Dune, which Cristina thinks is too pop and did not like it. Vu still hasn't heard it, but will experience those new songs live when he sees them in Minneapolis on September 16th at the State Theatre.

Howard Jones/The Fixx/Greg Kihn Band
Some random 80s heroes. We love all three of Howard Jones' hits, "What is Love?" and "the two other ones". The Fixx is back with their classic lineup, releasing a 10th studio album called Beautiful Friction in 2012.

Speaking of 80s, The Greg Kihn Band had two big hits ("The Breakup Song" and "Jeopardy"), which you can probably hear live at one of their show. Oddly enough, he is releasing a novel called Rubber Soul, which is an imagined mystery story about the Beatles. Who said they don't write them like that anymore? The book comes out September 3rd.

Goblin
Italian instrumental/soundtrack/prog rock band, Goblin, will be playing a number of live dates in the U.S., for the first time ever.
Dates are set in October (Halloween, anyone?), so be sure to check them out if the show is not already sold out.

Wednesday, 13 April 2011

SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS 2011

“…you could barely wipe the smiles off our dials. Thank you Splendour for anticipating our every whim, and fulfilling them. A truly unforgettable weekend.” Groupie

SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS - the annual, ephemeral city of sounds that exists solely for sweet music and good times will transform Woodfordia, near Woodford, south east Queensland from Friday 29 to Sunday 31 July.

The eleventh SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS event will see 81 acts giving their splendiferous best across three stages.